Mysterious right-wing think tank working with Trump cut benefits across states: report

National Public Radio reports the Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida conservative policy think tank, and it lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, will be working more closely with the Trump administration to limit the public’s access to government nutrition programs.

The nonprofit organization, which lobbies to restrict access to programs like SNAP and Medicaid, helped draft a 2017 Mississippi law that “intensified eligibility checks for public aid that made it more difficult for some applicants to qualify.” It also successfully pushed a 2023 effort in Idaho “to impose work requirements for food benefits that health care advocates said led some recipients to lose access.”

Also in 2023, the group helped pass SNAP restrictions affecting eligibility in Iowa.

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“Since those restrictions have taken effect, the Food Bank of Iowa has seen a record number of people show up at its pantries amid rising grocery prices and a scaling back of COVID pandemic-era federal support,” NPR reports.

The FGA’s every effort is not a success. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs blocked one of their bills this year seeking to restrict government aid for buying soda, which critics called a Trojan horse for even more food restrictions, but NPR reports the group's strategy is to pass legislation state by state, with the idea that “the crush of new laws will increase pressure on the federal government.”

Up until now the federal government has stymied many of their efforts. States can't limit what food is purchased through SNAP without federal approval through a waiver process, and federal approval for food restrictions has not easily been gained, but that could change under the Trump administration and the intervention of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who “echoes some of FGA's key messages, and he has said states can expect approval of their waivers.” At the same tie, emboldened Republican congressional leaders “are eyeing nationwide Medicaid cuts and work requirements, which FGA considers among its top priorities.

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Additionally, the FGA’s former policy director, Sam Adolphsen, now works at the Trump administration, serving as an adviser to President Donald Trump on domestic matters.

Read the full NPR report here.